My Apologies
by Kittyclaw
Summary: Oneshot, UxY. The day after Yumi and Ulrich almost kiss on Lyoko, Yumi tries to make amends with Ulrich. However, Ulrich isn't quite getting it.


**This is a little oneshot for some of my favorite fellow fanfiction authors- RenaYumi and oshnsoa shnedashn kiunepgli. My thank you for putting up with the dress jokes and my rampant note taking. Love you guys! And now on to the story- this takes place one day after the episode "Routine" (the UxY almost kiss for those of you who don't know). I'm sure it's one of Rena's and Osh-blahblah's faves. Yumi is trying to make up, Ulrich is confused. Enjoy it, and I hope you like it!**

Standing in the open doorway of the main school building, Ulrich scowled at the rain currently attempting to flood the campus. He was not relishing the thought of having to sprint through the downpour to get back to his room, a marathon he would have been able to avoid had his teacher not forced him to stay and listen to a half hour lecture on his steadily slipping test grades. He was well aware that his grades were not up to par, he heard enough about it from his parents, he didn't need the rest of the world on his case too.

But he didn't need to think about that now. He had a very, in his opinion, legitimate reason for his decline in school work, and therefore felt that he needn't worry himself too badly about the things his teacher had threatened to do should his grades continue as they were doing know (as if Ms. Hertz would really hold him back for another year). Instead, Ulrich lifted his backpack over his head and prepared to make the mad dash to the dorms.

And that is when he noticed Yumi sitting alone on one of the benches.

Raising a curious eyebrow, Ulrich tried to figure out what Yumi was trying to accomplish by sitting at school in the rain, when she should be at home. School had finished, and as a day student she was free to have already headed home, where a much warmer and certainly much dryer place to sit awaited her. Curiosity piqued, Ulrich decided to detour towards Yumi's bench to see what kept her at school at such a late hour.

Making sure he was covering as much of himself as possible with his backpack, Ulrich began the short run across the courtyard to where Yumi sat-

And promptly slipped in a puddle, landing less than gracefully on his behind. The fall left Ulrich soaked through from the hips to the knees, his backpack still over his head, and a stunned look on his face.

Which was exactly his condition when the sound of his tumble caused Yumi to turn around and look his way.

"Ulrich?" she said in surprise, her eyebrows raising towards her hairline. She leapt up from her perch on the bench, hurrying around to where Ulrich sat, at the moment still staring in stunned silence, unmoving. "Ulrich?" Yumi repeated, walking up next to him and crouching down. Ulrich groaned internally, wishing with all his might that he would just vanish.

"I'm okay," he said, finally shaking off the fall enough to think straight.

"Are you sure?" Yumi asked, standing back up as Ulrich struggled to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ulrich said, nodding. He got up, being sure to keep his backpack over his head. He and Yumi then stared at one another for a few seconds, not entirely sure what to do next.

"Uh," Yumi said, "I don't think you need that." She pointed at Ulrich's backpack. They both looked up at it for a moment. Realizing he was attempting to keep the rain away from his already soaked self, Ulrich lowered the backpack with a shrug.

"So, uh, what are you doing out here?" he asked, hoping to draw attention away from himself and his faux pas. It seemed to have been successful, if the blush that proceeded to stain Yumi's cheeks was any indication.

"I, uh," Yumi trailed off. Ulrich raised an eyebrow. "Well, I was sort of waiting for you. Odd said you were going to be late," she added.

"Oh," Ulrich said. That wasn't quite what he was expecting. Not that he was complaining. "Why?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Yumi answered. She paused, looking over her shoulder at the bench. "Can we sit down?"

"Yeah, sure," Ulrich said and then followed Yumi as she lead the way back to the bench. The two of them perched on the edge of the seat to avoid getting too wet- not that they weren't already dripping with rain water- and then stared vaguely in different directions.

"Uh, what did you want to talk about?" Ulrich asked after a minute or two had passed. Yumi, who had become lost in thought, gave a small jump.

"Oh, right," she said. "Umm, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Ulrich said, knowing that Yumi was just trying to delay what she really wanted to say. "The fall only hurt my butt. And my pride."

"I'm sorry," Yumi said.

"Why?" Ulrich asked, confused. "It wasn't your fault."

"I know," Yumi told him, shrugging slightly. "I just, I still feel bad though."

"But it wasn't your fault." Yumi sighed.

"I can't feel bad about it?"

"Well, I don't know," Ulrich answered, shrugging. "I guess you can. It's just, you shouldn't have to feel sorry about something you didn't cause."

"I know," Yumi said, sighing again, her eyes dropping to stare at the ground. After a small moment a smile slipped on to her face. "Thank you." Yumi suddenly stood up, much to Ulrich's surprise, and began walking away, in the direction of the street.

"Wha-? Wait, Yumi, where are going?" Ulrich called after her. "I thought you wanted to talk about something!"

"We just did!" she called back without turning around. "See you tomorrow!"

"Uh, bye!" Ulrich called, still confused. Yumi waved over her shoulder and then disappeared around the open gates of Kadic and down the sidewalk out of sight.


End file.
